A Place to Call HomeIt's gracious, it's spacious, and it honors all alumni – past, present, and future. Here's what the new Alumni Center will look like.

Even the spacious new Alumni Center, due to open in 2010, won't hold the whole Keene State alumni family (some 23,000 strong) at once. But like any family homestead, it will be an anchor, a meeting place, a focal point for all alumni programs and gatherings, as shown in this advance peek at the architectural plans.

The south entrance, with adjacent parking and easy drop-off for passengers, will be set off with plants and shrubs native to the Monadnock region.

The Alumni Center from the Blake House lawn, looking southeast across the Main Street roundabout.

The shaded courtyard on Main Street provides a sheltered entrance to the building. Light floods into the adjoin-ing reception gallery and lobby.

The function hall will hold groups of up to 150 in a versatile facility designed to accommodate everything from seminars and lectures to dances, dinners, and community events.

Alumni can enter the building from Main Street through an open-air courtyard graced with shade trees and native plantings. The light-filled reception gallery and lobby inside, with comfortable furniture, wireless access, and a working fireplace, will be an inviting place to meet and mingle. The 2,100-square-foot, high-ceilinged function hall and adjoining terrace is designed to accommodate career and student mentorship programs, Reunion banquets, class and affinity group meetings, and all manner of campus, community, and private events.

Ample parking behind the Alumni Center, with an entrance on the south side of the building, creates easy access for all visitors. The south entrance links directly to the gallery and lobby areas with their displays of photographs and memorabilia from 100 years of academic life. The second floor of the building, reached by stairs or elevator, will house the College Advancement division staff (Alumni and Parent Relations, Development, Online Communications, and College and Media Relations). The Alumni Center is designed with environmentally friendly building materials and enfolds the former Newman Center building into the floor plan.

Construction is scheduled to begin later this spring. All alumni "sidewalk superintendents" are welcome to come and monitor the progress. After all, Keene State's most important product is alumni. All who have gone forth to serve can come home again. We hope you do!

The courtyard is flanked to the south by the renovated building at 232 Main Street (formerly the Newman Center). Linking the old and new structures provides additional space for alumni archives and offices.

Furniture in conversation-ready groupings and a granite fireplace faced with locally made Trikeenan tile (see insets for tile and upholstery samples) will warm the reception area.